AMD will sell its Austin campus to fund operations

CHIP DESIGNER AMD is planning to sell its Austin campus and lease it back to generate funds.

AMD reportedly had brought in management consultants and investment bank JP Morgan to look over a potential sale of the firm but it is looking to more short term measures to generate cash. The firm plans to sell its Austin campus and lease it back to unlock funds for operations.

While AMD is headquartered in California, most of the firm's core employees are based in Austin, Texas. The company has already sold off its Sunnyvale headquarters and leased it back and soon AMD's main campus in Austin will go the same way, according to the firm.

AMD's Drew Praire told Reuters, "There are favourable economic conditions in the part of Austin where the campus is located. Contingent on finding an investor who wants to do a multiyear lease-back, it's a good opportunity for us to unlock the value of the real estate to fund operations."

Earlier AMD CEO Rory Read told investors that the firm saw encouraging PC sales during the Black Friday sales after the US Thanksgiving holiday, however he stopped short of forecasting a good Christmas sales period. Read said, "We've seen some positive news out of Black Friday over the past several days. Our performance over that period looked reasonably well, but I think it's a little early to call the holiday season."

The firm expects to sell its Austin campus for between $150m and $200m, which won't make much difference in its balance sheet as it is merely liquidating assets, however a deal should provide funds for its chip design operations and more specifically designing its ARM based Opteron chips that are expected to tip up in 2014. µ